Asphalt Junkies Spring 2013 - Closed (Page 51)

49rs!!!!!

Yeah.....I really don't care......gives me some "me" time! 

The only reason I know is because everyone around here is going CRAZY!  Sheesh!

All you crazies running in the snow... are you wearing something like this?

Like!

My Alaskan friend and I were not expecting such horrible conditions.  We were totally unprepared for the snowy/icy conditions.

Otherwise.....yes.  Those things are the bomb! 

I have something similar but they have cleats on the bottom. Our snow melted back in December though so thankfully there is no need for the cleats right now. Honestly I'm kind of a wimp about the cold this year. Every other year I layer up and get out anyway. I think I have to bundle up to take the puppy out so many times a day right now that I just don't want to deal with it for my workout too!

Yesterday my home project was painting our particle board steps that lead to the basement. We ripped the carpet off when we started our basement improvement project so we've just been staring at ugly particle board for the last couple of months. I finally decided to paint them until we figure out a permanent solution. This is a long explanation so I can whine to you all that my back did not appreciate that little chore. It is fired up today and all I accomplished yesterday was tearing out the carpet staples and one coat of primer so I still have to finish the actually painting today!

Dina, good luck w/ the remodeling.  It is going to be so nice whe you are done!

Matt, 10 y.o. can be intimidating...lol  glad you had a successful day...learned...lol

Tracy, hope you foot continues to get better.

Wow, they don't sell those road chains down here.  I've never even seen one, thanks for posting...  and I guess I shouldn't complain about it being 29 this morning.

Busy weekend so ya'll take care and train hard!

I don't remember you mentioning this before and if we discussed the specifics of why this might be occurring, so I'll take a shot at it.  Occasionally I'll knock my feet together while running but it is certainly not the norm and for you, if you have a specific wear pattern that indicates this as a common occurrence, it seems to be an indicator of part of a problem.

I have to follow up with more questions though:

1. When you run do you have a large amount of shoulder swing?
2. Do your hands cross the centerline of your chest?
3. If you looked at your footprints in the snow of a recent run, how would they be spaced laterally apart?  Would they be spaced a few inches apart or closer to the same line as the last step with the opposite foot?

If all of the questions above can be answered with a "yes" than it's likely that you area a heavy over pronator.  I also don't remember if you said you used to run in a motion control shoe but you have switched to a stability shoe.  If I am remembering correctly, then the motion control shoes may have been a better choice for you but without seeing your stride it would be pretty difficult to make an accurate assessment.

Also, if the answer to the above questions is "yes" then it may not be a hard problem to resolve.  All of these things can be almost entirely eliminated by opening your arms up during your running.  I have seen many runners hold their arms high and let them swing in front of them rather than mostly beside them.  This allows the shoulders to swing aggressively and leads to a slight bit of crossover, or near crossover, in your stride which would allow for your feet to hit together while running. If you seem to have a more forward swing with your arms , simply open them up and allow the swing to occur at your sides.

If you are planning a run outside in the snow, tr to take a couple pictures of what your stride looks like and post them up.

I wear compression gear nearly all of the time.  My reasons for it are less for circulatory reasons than others.  The biggest reason I wear compression gear is....well....purple nurples.  Or red and bloody ones anyway.  If I run over 6-7 miles without a tight fitting shirt I will have sore nipples at the least.  If I run 10+ miles I will be bleeding and this isn't a kind thing to have happen.  It has happened to me only a couple of times and I didn't particularly care for it.

The use of compression seems to be a little bit controversial in many circles.  Some people swear by it and others not so much.  The evidence isn't exactly fool proof, only suggestive.  The theory behind compression is rather simple and, logically, makes sense to me.  It suggests that when used for recovery it helps flush the waste products from the affected parts of your body more quickly allowing for a more speedy recovery time.  Or when used during exercise/races it helps remove the waste products, such as lactic acid, from the muscles rather than allowing them to accumulate in the lower body (legs during running) rapidly which in turn would allow fatigue to set in sooner.

Personally, I use Zensah compression socks after longer races and/or long runs or rides that seem to leave me more exhausted or fatigued than expected to try to flush all of that trash from my legs.  I feel like it makes difference in my recovery time but it seems to be a little bit more limited than a good strong deep tissue massage.  If I were to recommend one or the other I would suggest the massage with in 24-48 hours of a major long course race, such as a marathon, HIM or IM.  Remember, this massage should be uncomfortable to be effective.  No fru, fru feel good stuff here!

I wore compression gear at all of my long course races last season and I will again this season.  But to be truthful I hadn't raced long course prior to last season and I don't know whether the calf sleeves worked or not.  If nothing else it provided a psychological benefit to keep me moving during the race.

Is this what you were looking for?  Or is there something more specific you were looking for?

Jo, congrat and good luck on your HIM training!!!   Also tell your both sisters we are thinking fo them and glad they are doing well.

Compression...  I wear them on my longer runs and then let them stay on for a couple of hours after that.  I was talking to a manufucturer of compressin the other day and they recommended that you wear the 2 to 3 times out of 5 that you have long training sessions but not every one.  That being said, it would help in recovery but does not make your muscle dependant on them.

See what everyone else says. I did notice that a LOT of the people in IMFL had on compression calf sleeves.

Dirk my husband says I don't move my arms much at all when I run and don't cross the center line. We have a perfect little dusting of snow right now that I can try to run on for the snow test. He shook his head when I was asking him these questions and said "Nope, your problems are all your feet".

I do know that I over pronate, have really weak toes (sounds weird but true) and a lot of flex/motion in my ankles.  I have flat feet with low arches and a large bunion (gross) on my left foot which is also the same side that has that cyst. I have now told you way more than you wanted to know.

I've been in many different kinds of motion control and stability shoes and even have 3 pair of custom orthotics and one pair of over the counter orthotics. I've had foot issues with all of them. My most favorite shoes are my Saucony Pro Peregrine which are a low drop trail shoe without a lot of extra features and I wear them with NO orthotics. I really hate to type this and jinx myself but I have not rolled my ankles since I've been wearing these shoes on the trails (about a year).

Stairs are painted!! Just took a couple of Aleeve and a heat pack LOL.

I've been wearing compression socks daily since I hurt my foot.  I wear it under the boot.  (I have a pink pair so they lift my spirits a bit.)  I don't know if it's helping but my legs sure feel good when I wear them.

I have also worn them after long bike rides for recovery.  Again, I dont' know if they help.

I wear zoot compression socks on long runs and can tell a difference.  

Dirk - have you ever tried body glide on your nipples?  Works like a charm, especially if you have a hairy chest.

My race went good today.  My friend wanted to drop down to the 50-miler (which was actually 54 miles).  I still have a head cold and lots of mucus, so I didnt object.  Went out the first 25 miles way too fast and suffered on the back half.  Anyway, felt good to get a 3+ hour ride in.  Thanks for all the encouragement!

Will congrats and great job today with the bike ride. Glad to hear that you weren't limited by your illness and that you were able to complete the ride.

I've not used any compression gear myself like Matt said it's just has not been in the budget especially this year with all I need to do for Syracuse and Wisconsin I doubt I'll be investing in anything like that anytime soon. I would like to check it out though and I'm glad to hear the feedback from the group has been mainly positive on this. Maybe I can pick up something on clearance just to see if it works for me.

I was able to get a long run into today. I got 4 loops around the hood for 8.8 miles. That has been like my longest run in 3 weeks but it was a really good run. It was very sunny out but very cold and crisp with alot of wind today. I did a nice an easy pace and was not worried at all about my time.

The one thing that bothered me though was my hands. I don't know what it is this year but my hands get very cold. I just bought a new pair of Louis Garneau Roubiax gloves and tried them out today. I know they are cycling gloves but they are supposed to be good down to 2 degrees farenheit after two loops and 4.5 miles my hands were frozen. I had to stop in and grab another pair of gloves to put over that pair. That held me over until the end of the run but my hand were getting cold towards the end. It was like 28 degrees but with the 12 mph wind it was colder with the wind chill. I don't remember ever feeling my hands this cold in all the years I've been running. Any recommendations on a good pair of gloves from all the cold weather runners? I'm not sure if it's the gloves or just me. I can tell you I have no problem with my feet just the hands when it's been really cold out.

Wow... I'm outta the loop for a few days and I feel ike I missed  5 chapters of an important book. Just checking in. Hoping tomorrow's half goes alright. Been trying to rest and fend off a nasty cold and feel about 75%. I've been MIA in just about everything as I have concentrated exerting just enough energy to keep the kids on their schedules.

We shall see how tomorrow goes. I've been thinking about you all and hope you are all having a great weekend!

I have tried Body Glide but I am more likely to forget to use it and I have already said that it can get ugly.  I figure I am going to be running in technical shirts anyway so I just buy the compression gear and don't take any chances.  I do use regular tech gear on runs up to 7 miles much of the time.

It sounds like you had a great ride despite suffering through the "cold" air of Texas.  The back half of your ride should, as Jeff said, provide certain benefits in the upcoming days and weeks.  If you can swing the time each week you could really make some great cycling gains if you can get 40-50 mile rides in each week.  But first priority is your family.  Starting with your wife and then your youth.  But you already know that.

I would suggest getting a pair of mittens that have some glove fingers on the inside with a flap that you can fold over your fingers when it's cold and remove/fold back if they are too warm.  I have a pair similar to my description but they don't have the fingers on the inside.

Asics fingerless mittens

Brooks fingerless

Timberland fingered mitten

Mazella fingered mitten

Dirk thanks for taking the time out to post the links. I was thinking I may have to go the mitten route as well. I didn't realize they made a fingered version with the fold over flap. That might be the way to go as you are suggesting.

Will: Great ride today and good job pushing through to the end!

Jen: good louck tomorrow and hopefully that cold doesn't slow you down too much!

Karl: Same for you

Tony: I use nike cold weather gloves and they seem to do pretty well.  I have ran with them down to 5 degrees and my hands have stayed warm.  But I think I agree with Dirk that the removable fingers would be a benefit.  My hands getting sweaty and having the ability to air them out would be  great

On my side I just finished a pretty good week.  Overall totals: Bike (68 miles), Run (27 miles), swim (3300yds).  Probably one of the better weeks I have had, even during race season!  Today proved to be the toughest.  I had the groundhog 4 mile race and finished with a time of 30:47, followed that up with a crazy bike interval session that added up to 27 miles and me being left in a pile of mush!

I can't wait to see what next week brings!

I think I found my "threshold" for calories on the bike.  I can go without much of anything in the way of calories up to around 2:05 to 2:10.  If my ride is going to be longer (or more intense), I need calories.

My bum foot seems to be allowing me to experiment on myself.  I'm not concerned with speed.  I'm only concerned with preventing pain in my foot while cycling.  It's kind of nice to remove a variable.  It's almost like a built in power meter.  Hard to explain.  I'm really learning to key into my pedaling mechanics.